Kat nodded slowly. "Ya, that might have startled the guy a little. Its a pretty big thing to spring on someone, especially when they are someone you have been close to for awhile." She patted Derpy on the shoulder. "He might just need a minute to himself to think." She frowned. "Or maybe it was something that happened at that lab... That 'Master' guy really seemed to hate your Doctor and I can't imagine their time together was pleasant." She smiled once more. "But don't worry! He is safely back with friends and even if it takes time for him to get back to himself, he will. Don't you worry."

* * *

Twilight shock her head. "No." She did not match G's eyes. "In that I don't think we have anything to talk about." Her voice quivered slightly. "I heard what happened at the lab from the others. Rainbow's... the way she left and the way Rarity see's it... and all of that." She shock her head slightly as tears began to run down to her chin. "Its tearing us apart. Apple Jack is usurious at you, Rarity and Colgate because she thinks the way you acted drove Dash away from maybe coming back and talking to us. Fluttershy left and I don't know where she is and Pinkie has been missing since we left the cabin."

Twilight rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath, then in a much calmer voice said, "So no. I don't think talking to you about what's bothering me is going to help." She finally looked at G with an unreadable expression. "Just tell me that if Rainbow Dash does come back, you will stay away from her till her FRIENDS have had a chance to talk to her first." She looked over at Colgate. "And in the mean time, try and do something with... her. She is going to give the fillies nightmares." She shivered. "As well as the rest of us. I don't know what can be done for her, but at the very least, try and sow up and cover up the worst of the damage so she looks less like the things trying to eat everypony."

G was stunned by Twilight's words. They left a mark in his heart. He had made a ton of tough calls lately but hearing Twilight who wasn't even there speak so harshly to him stung. He swallowed and throuhhr his words out very carefully before turning to Twilight and speaking.

"I understand you want find an excuse as to why things are the way they are. But with all due respect you weren't there. You didn't see Dash go from helping us take down this guy to bucking me clear across the room. You weren't there when Rarity tried to plead with and Bargain with Dash. And to be honest even if she betrayed us all. I Owe Rainbow Dash my life. But that being said doesn't change what happened. She's still a traitor! Brandon and Derpy even tried talking to her! Out of respect for the friendship I have with You and more importantly Rarity I will allow her friends to talk to her. But last time I checked you and I and Rarity, and Colgate, and Brandon, and Rocket, all of us were on the same team and equal friends. So before you go trying Colgate, Rarity, Rocket ,and myself for what we should or shouldn't have done I would suggest you learn all the facts." He said in firm yet measured tone locking eyes with Twilight.

"As for making Colgate look better. I'll see what I can do but honestly you should be greatful she's still alive in some form unless you had a better way of breaking the news to Dinky that her second Mother figure is gone. War is not a pretty thing and not everyone makes it back. Now if you'll excuse me Sheriff Sparkle I have a friend who needs some medical attention after being blown in half twice." G said his tone harsh but not mean as he hobbled away to Colgate in the kitchen.

He sat down next to Colgate and spoke. "Hey listen I know you aren't feeling the best right now. But since it is your body not Twilight's I wanted to ask you. Do you want me to try to patch up the worse of your injuries so that it doesn't look so bad? Maybe even try to manage some of the pain?" G asked Colgate.

Derpy sighed. "You're probably right, Kat. I should give him so time to himself." Derpy looked back and forth. "You know, I apreciate you talking to me. Brandon's a really lucky to have someone like you. I can tell that he's happy when he's with you." Derpy stood up. "Excuse me, I should be puting Dinky to sleep."

The Doctor paced restlessly. "I'm going back to the TARDIS. Come get me when the girl wakes up." He said. "I'll need to talk to her." The Doctor entered the TARDIS and groaned. "What the hell is wrong with me?" The Doctor mumbled. "Am I trying to drive Ditzy away?" The Doctor sighed. "I've got to calm down, relax." He looked over at the console. "Ah, the analsys on the vaccine should be complete."

"Ow" The mare groaned loud enough for nearly everyone to hear. She pressed her hoof gently up to her face where she hit the car door, "Caught again..." she sighed much quieter this time. She slumped back onto the couch with a huff.

*

"I feel sorry for that mare... she didn't deserve getting mixed up in all of this." Cynthia, one of the gaurds that was accompanying Cameron said to her friend, Rick as he typed away on his laptop. The barn was visible to them, just of in the distance.

"Your brother will be fine, true he is in critical condition but we have the best medical facilities in two worlds back at HQ." She patted him on the back gently

"And he wouldn't be there if they hadn't set loose that robot." He said, Cynthia took this as a 'end of conversation' statment, so instead she looked back at Cameron. Cameron was kneeling before the moon, his eyes were closed and he held his crystal at chest height in his cupped hands, it glowed soflty.

"Do you want to leave straight away or do you want to stay for the fireworks?" Cynthia asked "Well... If there are any fireworks, we haven't tested this method before so it might not be visually stimulating." She said as she moved the lock of brown hair in front of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

Camerons eyes opened and the crystal stopped glowing as vibrantly, he spoke as he stood up "We should go, I'd rather not waste time in getting to Prometheus again."

"Aw, leaving already?" Brandon said disappointedly. It's cool, just be careful out there. I doubt Prometius is going to be happy to see you again since you sort of stole his doctor. Speaking of which, I believe that pony has regained consciousness,and The Doctor wanted to talk to her when she woke up. I'll go get him then we can walk you to the van."

﻿

***

﻿ The Doctor's brow furrowed as he carefully inserted a brightly colored crystal in to a glass tube filled with similar crystals, all which were floating about in a sort of suspended animation. The Doctor nearly jumped when the Tardis door opened.

"Hey, Doctor, the sonic snatcher has awakened." Brandon said.

"Oh, Brandon," The Doctor said. "I'll be there momentarily."

Brandon stepped into the Tardis and looked at the multicolored chrystals. "So, what are you doing?"

"I'm just tinkering with a side project. I kind of snapped at Ditzy earlier. Now I'm trying to calm down and get my mind off of things."

"Yeah what was that about? She seemed really up set." Brandon said.

The Doctor sighed. "I've been through a lot of stress lately. Me and Ditzy's relationship is starting to get really complicated. Plus I just regenerated, so that is a recipee for a moody Doctor. I just hope I haven't scared her off."

"Don't worry about it." Brandon said. "It's going to take a lot to scare Derpy off. You just need to open up to her, and maybe loosen up a bit. By the way, what are those things in the tube?" Brandon asked, changing the subject.

"Flameless fireworks." the Doctor replied. "All the fun of fireworks with none of the risk off burning your house down. Not sure how to ignite them though..."

"Ok..." Brandon said. "I see nothing wrong happening as a result of this."

"Don't worry no one will be harmed if they go off in side this tube. " the Doctor said reassuredly.

"Anyway, I need to get back to Cameron, and you can talk to the cleptomaniac if you want now" Brandon said.

"Ah, good." The Doctor said. "And this time she's not going to get the jump on me. I'm leaving the sonic in the Tardis, locking the door." The Doctor tossed his sonic screwdriver in to a drawer and closed it. "Now it's time to get some answers from our mystery mare."

Colgate looked at her reflection in the window. "For Ruby Pinch..." She sighed, the sound coming out in a rattling shutter. "Fine. Do what you can to make me look like a normal pony. But don't worry about the pain." I looked at G dully. "I can barely feel it anymore anyway. Most of my nerves have shut down over the last few hours and now everything just feels kind of distant. I guess that might be to prevent the wounds from driving me mad, but I just feel less like a pony then ever."

* * *

Twilight leaned over the mystery mare, her jaw clenched against the bitter words she felt boiling up at the back of her throat after doctor Gibson's last rebuke. 'How dare he?' Twilight mentally hissed. 'He talks like everything is set in stone and like we just have to get used to the idea that Dash is our enemy now?' She shock her head trying to rid herself of the vitriol, but found she could not.

On the couch the mare stirred and muttered something about her capture. Jumping on the distraction Twilight walked around to look the stranger in the eyes. "Who are you?" She bent to eye level with the pron pony. "And why did you try to steal from The Doctor?"

* * *

Kat watched as the van rolled away from the farm and felt a sudden sense of unease. She trusted Camron, he had been one of the only members of the group to not try and murder D prior to his sudden revelation of... whatever sorta of crazy magical nonsense he had been on, but something about his manner and the way he was leaving didn't sit right by her. She made to turn back to the cabin, feeling the pain in her leg and suddenly wanting nothing more then to just go back into the light and leave her suspensions and misgivings alone when the crack of something in the bushes near her caused her to spin on the spot.

A zombie, falling apart at the seems and almost unrecognizable as a unicorn lifted its head at Kat, horn starting to glow. With a curse Kat struck out with her good foot, forgetting for a moment that he other leg could not support her weight on its own and tumbled to the ground with a cry of pain. A bolt of magic shot over her head as she landed and a second later she had reflectively lashed out, smashing the zombie hard it the head, slamming its cracked skull into a rock and finishing the job its former husband had started near the start of the outbreak.

Kat whimpered in pain as she felt fresh blood flowing from her hurt leg and knew without looking that she had popped at least a few stitches. Struggling to a sitting position she was confused to see the van disappearing into the night, long after she had assumed it should have gone. And in the back, silhouetted against the light, she had almost sworn that she had seen more people. Then the van was gone, leaving Kat alone in the dark with her thoughts.

It would be another hour before Kat was able to crawl back to the cabin and by the time collapsed, bleeding and shivering in front of the farm steps, alerting the occupants as Ruby Pinch screamed in horror at the, 'dead thing' attacking the house, Kat was all, but convinced she had just misunderstood what she had seen.

Prometheus glared at the scout as he delivered his report. "And your sure it is one of the part who left when the good doctor departed us?" The scouts nod was an unnecessary formality. Prometheus had known that they would be returning today. Had known it since the night before when in his sleep, his dead brother had told him.

In the dream D had been a dearly skeletal corpse, body wasted almost beyond recondition and held upright only by a series of wire thin strings which dug into his flesh at the joints. D's voice was unchanged, but the way he had talked was different then then the man calling himself Prometheus had ever heard it before. He was full of carefree quips and lighthearted jabs at the way the settlement had been run in D's absence. Prometheus's face had darkened as D gaily admitted to knowing about his plans to take over as solo ruler as well as the humiliating loss of there pony doctor less then a week after D's departure. The whispered rumors, D had insisted confidentially, where all over the fortress, talking about how Prometheus was an unfit ruler when compared to his now martyred brother.

But, D's night time visit had not only served to enrage the knight who laid claim to the largest human and pony colony in the New England area, it had also come with a promise. A promise that one of the men who had helped saw descent and rumors of his weakness would return with the means for his rules salvation. Prometheus had heard this news and watched as the dream faded, till only the laughing voice of his dead brother was all that remained of it, lingering in his head all day long.

"Bring them to me, unharmed." Prometheus clenched one iron clad hand around the armrest of his chair. "I want to see what he has to offer." The scout nodded and as he turned to leave Prometheus raised a hand. "And one other thing." The scout turned, looking nervous. "Set out a spike on the main entrance." Prometheus eyes narrowed. "If this meeting go's poorly, by ready to mount the bastards head for everyone to see what is in store anyone who crosses me and thinks they can walk away free."

* * *

Apple Jack helped Berry Punch over a pile of ruble with a nervous look around. Berry's face was as white as a sheet and she looked to Octavia with a mixture of fear and pleading plastered across her face. "Please," She begged. "I know you want to find Vinyl, but that last search party almost had us!" She unconsciously rubbed at her black eye. The place where the iron mare had stuck her had swollen into a nasty bruise and while Berry had waved off the others concerns about it, Apple Jack had confided to Octavia that she suspected Berry had lost a good deal of the sight in her right eye after multiple blows to the face from the metal clad maniac.

Across the street a line of blue paint marked the oddly cleanly marked divided between the territory loosely controlled by the iron mare and that controlled by her mysterious rivals. The area of the city that Vinyl had apparently fled to.

"Sugar cube, I hate to say so, but I think Berry is right here." Apple Jack looked on edge as she to looked around. "That crazy pony has been hounding us like a timber wolf who's territory has been crossed in mating season!" She blushed slightly at the crude analogy, but pushed forward. "I think this second run away might have pushed her over the edge and I doubt any blue line is going to stop her if she fines out we crossed over to find your friend. If we go in there, we might be setting off a gang war right here in Manehatten and that's gonna be real dangerous for us and every pony living in this city."

"Exactly what I'd like to know!" the Doctor said as he strode into the room. "I'd like to join you in this interrigaition if you wouldn't mind, Miss Sparkle." The Doctor turned to the other pony. "You've got guts to steal from me right under my nose." The Doctor said grinning pleasently "I'll admitt it. You got me. You played to my ego, by pretending to be a fan of mine who was injured on the way to see me. And I'll admit I didn't see through your shapeshifting magic." The Doctor chuckled. "You may have fooled me, but you should know that I am not an idiot." The doctor said all pleasantness leaving his voice. "You didn't want my silly little screwdriver did you? Sure, it can do just about any thing, but it's hardly worth the trouble you went through to steal it. No you wanted a distraction. The Big question is from what? Just keep this in mind. I can handle you stealing from me, but I will not abide being taken advantage of."

* * * *

﻿ Brandon followed the Doctor back to the house and met Derpy coming down the stairs. "Hey Derpy, have you seen Kat around here?"He asked. "We were going to see Cameron off."

Kat went back to the van with Cameron. He left awhile ago but Kat hasn't come back for about an hour." Derpy said.

"That's weird, I didn't think I was gone that long. I should go check on her." Brandon said as he headed for the door. Just then he heard Ruby's scream. He rushed to the door, where Ruby stood frightend pointing a shaking hoof out the window. Brandon crouched low his wrench drawn. He slowly pushed the door open. He crept on to the porch ready to strike. Brandon saw in the dim moon light a quivering mass crumpled by the stairs. Brandon clutched the wrench tighter as he inched closer. As he got closer he noted that the figure was bleeding profusely from its leg. Brandon warily reached out and flipped it over. Brandon instinctively recoiled. In front of him lay Kat breathing heavily as blood dripped from her reopened leg wound. Brandon put away his wrench and quickly scooped her into his arms and carried her back into the house. "Somebody help!" Brandon shouted. "Kat's hurt and her stitches have come undone!"

"S-stupid..." Kat muttered, weakly grabbing at Brandon's arm as he laid her down. "Zombie attacked me." She winched and clenched her blood mated leg with one hand. "Tired... tired to kick it and had a bad fall." Her eyes fluttered and Colgate, who had been with Doc G in the kitchen took her hand and squeezed it to keep her awake and focused.

"She lost allot of blood." Colgate rasped, peeling Kat's socked pants off of her legs with a griminess. "She must have crawled back and torn the bullet wound on the way." She looked at Kat with what might have been an exasperation of concern, but it was hard to tell on the mangled face. "Kat, stay with us. Why did you crawl back on that leg?"

Kat eyes opened and closed slowly as she looked from Brandon to Colgate. "Pants..." She looked down at her bare and red strained legs. "Dude... put my fucking pants back on..."

Colgate looked at the deep tear is Kats leg with obvious trepidation before nodding. "That's good, focuses on the pants and stay awake. We need to have G sow you back up and disinfect that, but afterwords, Brandon here will get you some pants." She looked at Brandon for confirmation. "But you need to tell us why you hurt yourself by crawling back here. Where you attacked again?"

Kat shock her head weakly. "No... Thought I saw... people, but it was nothing." She reached out and grabbed Brandon's hand. "Sorry..." She coughed. "For not telling you... going to see off... didn't want you to worry about me."

Colgate looked over to Brandon, her ruined face impossible to read. "She is going into shock. G can stop the bleeding and restitch her, but without a blood transfusion she is going to die. Soothing Needles can do one, but only Twilight can cast the magic needed to transform the blood into something that will not kill her." She stood up slackly. "I will get them, but if they don't have a source for the blood on hoof..." She trailed off as she hobbled off towered the main room. Just before she disappeared she crocked in a surprisingly gentle tone. "It will hurt."

Dr. G limped over and looked over Kat. "We will worry about your privacy in a bit but right now I've got to work fast! Shit this is pretty bad! Soothing Needles! I need you in here Stat! " He washed his hands and got his cauterizing tool warmed up. He gloved up and applied pressure to the wound holding gauze to it.

"Stay with me Kat!" G yelled. "She's fading fast! She's going to need a blood transfusion and we have no fresh blood. We are going to need a donor who can afford to give up some blood."

G said looking over at Brandon. He poured some alcohol onto the wound to disinfect the wound. Kat writhed in pain.

"I'm sorry I know it hurts stay with me! Brandon hold this gauze here for me keep the pressure on the wound."

As he cleaned the bloody gash blood was everywhere. He pulled a needle with some localized numbing agent and pushed the liquid into Kat's thigh. He began to cauterizing the wound the smell of burned skin and flesh filling the air. Kat winced clearly in pain.

"I'm sorry we don't have any real anesthesia really here for an open wound that shot should have taken off some of the edge. Just stay with me! You can hate me later but I need to seal this wound." He worked diligently and by the time Soothing Needles arrived Dr. G had stopped the bleeding. He washed the wound with more antiseptic and turned to Soothing Needles. "We need to prep her for a blood transfusion and we need a donor stat! Can you help me with that?" Dr. G asked.

"Alright help me get her to the couch I think our unwanted guest can afford to be moved." Dr.G said. As he and Brandon lift Kat Dr. G yells.

"Coming through we have a medical emergency here! You can talk to our guest into the kitchen but right now we need this couch!" He said clearing the couch. Brandon and Dr. G set Kat on the couch. "Stay with me Kat!" He looked around and noticed a bar stool. He turned to Soothing Needles. "I'll bring the supplies but I need you to make sure she stays with us while we try to do this. Brandon talk to her get her to focus on you and sit on this chair it's higher than the couch so it should work." He grabbed the large bag that had carried Soothing Needles and his own medical supplies and returned. "Shit! I need a way to prevent her body from rejecting the blood! Any suggestions Doc?" Dr. G asked Soothing Needles.

"Alright fine," The Doctor said calmly "we'll continue our chat in the kitchen. Come along, Miss Whoeveryouare, I'm going to want answers soon. And don't try anything clever." With that The Doctor guided the mare into the kitchen.

"Whle you are in there, could you get me something to eat and drink for after the blood transfer?" Brandon yelled into the Kitchen as he settled into his chair. He nervously cleared his throat as he turn back at to Kat. "Hey, Kat," Brandon said as calmly as he could. "We really need you to stay awake for us. I'm about to give you some of my blood, so hopefully that'll help. Last time I gave blood I got lightheaded and was super loopy for about an hour I know you don't want to miss that. That and I'd really miss you if something happened to you. Sorry,sorry! Gotta keep this positive... um... on the bright side, with my blood in you're system, it's like a little bit of me will always be in side you.... Nah, too creepy. Forget I said that. Change of subject. Goddamit I suck at small talk. I guess it dosen't matter what I'm sayiing since this has just been a mostly one sided conversation. You just need to keep focusing on my voice. Ah, I got it. I'll ask you a question. That should keep you brain going." Brandon rubbed his chin and looked to see Docotor Gibson conversing with Soothing Needles."Um... Is there something you've always wanted to do that for on reason or another you never got around to doing?"Brandon asked. "Just curious, don't mean to get too personal about it."

"Want..." Kat's eyes rolled in her head as she clutched Brandon's arm. "Fogive... didn't mean any of it..." She looked though Brandon as tears rolled down her checks. "J-James... please..."

Soothing Needles looked to Twilight and ordered, "Sparkle! I need alteration magic on this boys blood for the transfer! Your the only one who can do it!" As Twilight moved in to work Soothing Needles withdrew her transfusion equipment. "I can walk you though the broad steps Gibson, but your the human expert here."

Meanwhile Colgate laid a hood on Brandon's shoulder. "Mac's first name." Her harsh voice was barely above a whisper as she squeezed Brandon tighter. "If it keeps her going, just..." She hesitated, "Pretend to be him." She looked down, unable to look at either of them. "Kat should have had a chance to say good bey to him properly, but if it keeps her with us, it will do." She did not say anything for a little while, but then, in a voice barely above a whisper she muttered, "I am so sorry."

"I don't care about everypony living in this city!" Octavia yelled at the pair in frustration once the search party had past. "And you!" She said turning to Berry Punch "You decided to come along with us, I don't think that you're in a position to make demands!" she bucked a small piece of the debris that they had been hiding behind, causing it to crack her already mistreated hoof.

"I wasn't demanding" Berry whimpered pleadingly.

Octavia ignored her and continued her own train of thought "She has to be here, I know it, just... we just have to get over there and get out with her." Octavias eyelids dropped but she quickly regained herself. For the first time Applejack and Berry Punch both noticed the mares deteriorating demenour, her mane was a mess and her pinpoint eyes betrayed a sea of emotions; desperation, anger, sadness, almost everything that worked against being in a healthy state of mind. She got up and began walking without turning back to the others.

*

"I don't appreciate being pushed around." The mare said as she was pulled off of the couch. She made her way into the kitchen behind the doctor and they looked at each other with an awkward silence. After a few seconds an arc of lightning from her horn blasted the doctor square in the chest. The mare was thrown back into the kitchen and collided with the counter causing a flood of pots and pans to render her unconscious as they battered down on her body. The doctor was blasted back out of the kitchen and into Doctor G as they both went clattering to the floor along with Doctor G's tools. Once the doctors stood up they saw the pile of pans that covered the mare, each of the pans were all arcing electricity that was slowly extending its reach to objects that were further away from the mares body. Time Turner immediately jumped into action which caused him to notice that he suddenly felt very dizzy, he held a hoof to his chest and realized that the shock had been powerful enough to stop one of his hearts.

*

Cameron and his followers arrived at the gates of Prometheus' lair. "So how do you intend to get us in?" Cynthia asked Cameron as they approached.

"They'll let us in" He said matter-of-factly "Trust me." The gates were already being opened before he had finish speaking. As they entered, a spike sat directly in front of them, a warning to remain on their best behavior in his domain. Rick stepped forward to speak to the guards that gathered around their position in the center of the entrance.

"We have come here in order to discuss a possible trade with your leader, we have some extremely valuable cargo that we believe you will find to his liking." He spoke in a loud voice and held a clipboard in his left hand, reminiscent of a bossy manager.

"Cynthia, me and Rick will go talk to Prometheus but I'll need yoiu to look after the van, I don't want any of his men to try stealing the vaccine out from under our noses.